WTP/Build/WTP Build Rhythm Schedule

Contents

Finding That Sweet WTP Weekly Build Rhythm

The purpose of our weekly declared build is to make sure we have a build that mostly works, and is suitable to use as a target for for the following weeks development work. It is not for "end users" but may be used by some early testers to verify defects, get an early start on testing, etc.

The quality of the weekly build can be expected to vary during a milestone cycle, just as milestones vary during a release cycle, but, of course, the quality should improve as we near a milestone.

Monday

Team development.

Tuesday

Team development.

Prerequisite dependencies finalized and in the builds. (This is the goal, but note anyone can request a dependency be updated at any time by posting to wtp-releng@eclipse.org.)

Wednesday

Team development

Thursday

-Teams should not commit any more changes until the build is declared. Unless, of course, it is to fix a bug that is literally blocking declaration of the build. Such bugs should be well documented in a bugzilla and announced to wtp-releng as a "respin request" (even though, the build will run automatically).

If a team needs to respin for a severe issue, the team may do so provided they report a failed smoke test status on the wiki and send a note to wtp-releng@eclipse.org with the defect number and explanation of which teams will need to re-smoke test the new build.

In the event a re-build is required, then a new build will be complete by roughly 9 AM EST Friday.

For developers planning their work for the week, then, the above implies that 3 AM Thursday to 3 AM Friday (Eastern) should be "no release zones" ... where nothing routine is released, and only code that fixes a blocked build will be released. This insures a build is ready Thursday morning, and a possible respin by Friday morning. Hopefully, most weeks, this dead-zone will be shorter (i.e. build is declared early) and in some rare cases may be extended (e.g. we are getting close to a milestone and have had several weeks of no good build declared).

Friday

Team development.

Final declare or not-declare decision to be made by 3 PM Friday (Eastern time). If the weekly build is really bad, we may not declare that we have nothing to declare that week. In most cases, though, we will declare "with conditions" so potential consumers will know what to expect and they can decide if suitable for their needs.